


The Sack of Ludlow

by MichisAccount



Category: 15th Century CE RPF, The Sunne in Splendour - Sharon Kay Penman, The White Queen (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-18 16:58:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5936023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MichisAccount/pseuds/MichisAccount
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In 1459, the Welsh town of Ludlow was sacked by Lancastrian forces. Cecily Neville, wife of Richard of York, and her three youngest children Margaret, George and Richard, were present and had to face hostile forces.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sack of Ludlow

The screaming was becoming louder.

Richard had never heard such screams before. Though they came from the town, they seemed to come closer all the time, reverberating around him.

There were other noises as well. The clapping of hooves. Men shouting words that could not be distinguished, loudly and triumphantly. Dogs barking and then suddenly falling silent.

And now there was the smell of smoke permeating the castle, too.

Richard did not know what was worse. These noises, the obviously panicked screams, or the ominous smell, or his lady mother`s stony face, which she had had since his papa, Edward and Edmund had left with uncle Salisbury and cousin Warwick in the night. Richard had not really understood why, had not dared to ask her. Not when she was looking so strangely, so that he had gone to Margaret instead. But she, too, had been unhelpful, had only told him that they would be fine.

For a tiny moment when he had first heard the hooves from the town this morning, Richard had thought, despite all logic, they were returning. He had even blurted out: “Papa?” before he could stop himself, so relieved had he been that he would return. That the strange mood his lady mother and Margaret were in would stop, that Edmund would carry him on his shoulders and Edward explain what had happened.

Instead, Margaret had only shaken her head, looking pale and even more solemn than before. “No, Richard”, she had murmured. “You must be brave now. You and George must be brave now.”

Richard had not understood, had looked to George for help, but his older brother had not said a word either, had stared at Margaret in horror. Then, perhaps shocking Richard more than anything else, he had taken his hand, squeezing it so much it almost hurt, and had addressed their mother, asking her what to do.

At which his fearless, awe-inspiring mother had actually knelt down to be at his level, looking from him to Richard, and had made them swear to stay at her side in the bedchamber they had been brought to after papa had left. Richard had been too shocked and frightened to do anything but swear, and George, who usually questioned everything, asked for the reasoning behind every order, had done to the same without hesitation.

Shortly afterwards, the screaming had begun. Richard had been too frightened to ask what was happening, but it was coming closer now. The screams, the shouts, the horses, to which now the terrible smell of fire was added, and he struggled to make sense of the situation. His papa had gone in the middle of the night with his brothers, uncle and cousin. He was certain it must mean they had fled, but why, he did not really quite understand. He knew from George that there were bad men who wanted to deny papa his rights, who called him a traitor, but papa had dealt with them before, hadn`t he? If it was them who he had fled from, why?

If it was them he had fled from, was it them who were now in the city, causing people to scream and the fire? And what where they doing? The screams had started before the smell of fire, and Richard could not think of anything except that which would make people scream so. Shouting, barking, screaming. Mainly women screaming; men could be heard, but they stopped suddenly.

If his papa was here, he would make it stop, and Richard could not understand why he was not. Why he was gone and he and their lady mother and Mararet and George were here, as the screams came closer and the smell became worse.

Were they going to burn the castle? Were they going to make them scream like this as well? Richard longed to bury his head in George`s arms, but Margaret had told him to be brave. He could not hide, so he simply clutched his hand, waited for whatever was going to happen.

The screams were now so close, they seemed to be in the castle now. The triumphant shouts of men were closer now, too, so close he could almost understand the words.

His lady mother had gone even more pale, now, but her voice was steady as she turned to them. “You must be brave now”, she said, addressing them for the first time since the screaming had started. “They will arrive here any moment.” She swallowed, then lifted her head. “You must be brave.”

“Yes, my lady mother”, Margaret said, and George nodded. Richard could only stare at her, then at the door of the chamber. He did not know what he was meant to expect. Would they be hurt?

Why were his papa and Edward and Edmund not there? Or at least uncle Salisbury and cousin Warwick? Edmund had once told him, when he had asked about his weapons training, that men were meant to defend their women, that he would be taught how to one day as well.

But he had not been yet, and did not know how to defend Margaret and his lady mother. Edmund should have told him before he left. He should have been there. He should have told George and him how they were meant to defend their women. Richard could not even lift a sword on his own; the last time he had tried, Edward had needed to help him.

He would not be able to defend Margaret and his lady mother from the mean men who called his papa a traitor, if indeed this were them, stop them from doing to them what they did to the women who were screaming. George would have to do it alone, but then George would be hurt by them. He did not want George to be hurt.

His lady mother was now paler than he had ever seen her. Was she frightened, too? Richard had never seen her frightened. Did she know what the men were doing to the town? Why did she not tell them? What was so horrible that she was frihtened it would happen to her, too? And that only George was there to defend her?

The men were now definitely inside the castle, sounded very close. Richard had never been so frightened before. Would they try to kill George and him? Or would they find other ways to make them silent, as the screaming men in the town? Why were the women still screaming but the men not?

Were they doing worse things to the women? Or were the men not allowed to scream?

Richard wished his papa was here. He would stop them. He was a tall and strong man, so impressive that even Edward and Edmund listened to him. He would -

The door he had been watching anxiously flew open, interrupting his thoughts, and Richard could not help himself, shrank back. Men were entering the chamber, more men than he could immediately count, armed, grinning.

They were all armed.

They would kill them. They would kill them all and papa was gone and could not save them. Edward and Edmund and his cousin and uncle were gone, and he and George would get killed, before they also killed his lady mother and Margaret.

Richard bit his tongue to suppress a wail as the men approached them, bit it so hard he could taste blood. George`s fingers dug into his hands, but he wore his head up high, glaring at the intruders.

“Well … who do we have here?”

One of the man, a very tall one, missing two front teeth, had started speaking, to the sniggers of the others. Frozen to the spot, Richard stared as he approached his lady mother, who returned his gaze. “York`s wife …” His grin widening, he reached out, ran a hand along her cheek. “What pretty bounty …”

George gasped for breath, releasing Richard`s hand and hurling himself at the man. “No! Don`t touch her! Don`t touch her!”

He did not reach the black-haired man, though, was caught by some of the others, whose sniggers became louder. “York`s little whelp, are you?”, the one who was holding him ask, with more contempt than Richard had ever heard any. “Shall we teach you a lesson as we will your traitourous father?” And with that, he set George to the ground and slapped him.

“NO!” Richard heard the scream before he realised that it had been his own. But George was pulling a grimace, had been hurt - Richard didn`t think, jumped at the man who had slapped him. “Don`t hurt George! Don´t hurt George!”

“DICKON!”

Richard heard the voices of his sister and brother as he was lifted into the air as George had been, lifted to be face-to-face with the same man who had hurt George. Richard could smell his breath, of a lot of ale and something that reminded him of mouldy bread. “No question who you are”, the man cackled. “York`s spitting image. Teaching you a lesson will be even more fun than teaching your brother.” And before Richard could understand what was happening, he received a ringing slap as well.

The taste of blood in his mouth became worse, and he heard more screaming. Even his lady mother had raised her voice now, but when Richard looked up, feeling his and George`s tormentor`s hands on his shoulders, painfully, holding him to the spot, he saw that she was still facing the man who had touched her earlier, who was now pinning her to the wall with one hand, holding out the other one. And his lady mother, who was always so poised, so elegant, was removing her jewellery, handing it to him. Her face was still stony, but now there were flushes of colour on her cheek. And Margaret - Margaret had removed her pretty headdress, the one with the pearls his papa had given her for Twelfth Night this year. Her hair was visible now, and some of the men were looking at it.

Richard did not quite understand why they were grinning so, but he did not like it, and George was growling, struggling against the two men who were holding him, too, in place. “You will learn now what happens to the family of traitors”, Richard heard one of them growl. “York`s wife and perhaps York`s daughter … and York`s sons to watch.”

“Watch what?”, Richard burst out, even as he saw George go pale, starting to struggle even more than before. “Don`t hurt them! Papa will punish you!”

For some reason, this caused a hoot of laughter from several of the men, but the one holding him in place did not seem amused. Lifting him up again, he held him inches from his face, grip so hard Richard could not even struggle. “Your papa will be executed”, he said, voice low and malicious. “Perhaps we can convince the king to have him hanged, drawn and quartered. His guts ripped out while he is still conscious …”

He trailed off, grinning, as Richard wailed. A moment later, he wished he had not, but papa could not be killed. He could not be hurt and killed. “You are lying!”, he shouted, and the man cackled again. “You will watch. And now you will watch as we teach you what happens to the wives and perhaps also the daughters of traitors.”

“DON`T HARM THEM!”, George yelled again, at that, only to be slapped again. “Don`t harm them!” “You will -”

“LEAVE THE BOYS ALONE!”

The shout, sounding angry, came unexpected, but it had an immediate effect. The hand that had dug into his shoulder was removed as the men turned to the door. He was no longer held, and without thinking how it came to be, Richard rushed to his lady mother. Not thinking of anything, just wanting to be held, be certain she was fine. George was not critically hurt. Margaret -

“Dickon!” Richard had never seen his mother so little in control as she was now, when she knelt to catch him as Margaret did the same for George. “Are you alright? Are you all alright?”

Richard wanted to say that his tongue and his cheek hurt, but she looked so unlike her usual self he was not certain if he should. Instead, he simply nodded, and only then did he notice that the man who had been threatening her was hunched on the ground, clutching his codpiece and moaning slightly. “Ma - My lady mother?”, he asked, and she gave him a somewhat shaky smile. “He did attempt to hurt Margaret and me. I defended us.”

RIchard stared at her, trying to understand, but George disentangled himself from Margaret`s embrace to kick at the man. “Don`t hurt Margaret!”, he shouted. “Don`t hurt my lady mother!” “George!”, their lady mother hissed, but she was interrupted by a voice - the same voice that had startled the men just now - yelling: “BOY!”

At that, Richard spun around to find himself faced with a fair-haired man, dressed better than the others in the room, scowling at George and then, as he came towards him, at his lady mother. “I would hope that you keep your sons under control, my lady.”

His lady mother straightened up, and an expression he recognised crossed her face. “I would ask you do the same for your men”, she said. “Look at my sons! Look at my daughter!”

The man did as she had said, quickly averting his eyes from Margaret`s hair. “I will see to it that she is given something to cover her head with”, he said, at which Richard`s mother bowed her head. “I thank you for that, my lord Edmund. One of the hairdresses of the unfortunate women your men raped in the town?”

Lord Edmund - as seemed to be his name - grimaced at that, but Richard did not understand. She knew what had been done in the town - but she had not said - “What`s rape?”, he asked George, quietly, who looked at him with a slight frown. “Doing something to a woman that only a husband is allowed”, he then said, hesitantly. “I don`t know how.” His voice was a bit hoarse, perhaps due to his swollen cheek, but he did not seem to notice. Instead, as his mother spoke with Lord Edmund, voice full of contempt, he pulled a sleeve of his doublet over his hand and wiped it over Richard`s mouth. “You are bleeding”, he said. “Does it hurt?”

Richard only shook his head, making George look rather doubtful, but before he could say anything, his lady mother put her hand on his shoulder, her gaze wandering from him and George to Margaret. “Lord Edmund will bring us away from here”, she said, softly. “We must leave now.”

George nodded, and Margaret said nothing to that, but Richard stared at her. Her voice sounded so strange. “Will we not wait here for papa?”, he asked, and then heard George take a sharp breath. “But -”

“Young man!” Lord Edmund was now taking him by the arm, turned him around. “Your father is a traitor, and it is his fault you and your mother and siblings are in this situation. It is only by the king`s mercy that you will be taken from here. You are not to mention him again. Is that understood?”

“But -” Richard began, at which the man`s grip tightened on his arm. “Is it understood?”

Richard looked from him to his lady mother, who looked furious but said nothing, then to Margaret and George. Finding no contradiction in their faces, he nodded, murmured: “Yes.”

At that, Lord Edmund released him again, said curtly: “Come along” and gestured towards the door. George took his hand, and they started following him, but Richard still did not understand. Why did they not wait for papa and Edward and Edmund? Why did the man say being hurt was papa`s fault?

Where were they going? Would they be hurt more?

He clutched George`s hand harder, said nothing.

He was not allowed to mention him, but he wished his papa was there. He would have made it alright. He would have defended them.

He hoped he would see his papa again.


End file.
